A 143-year-old edition of a weekly newspaper has been unearthed as a church prepares to close.

The “pristine” 1879 edition of the Andover Advertiser has resurfaced as part of a time capsule buried in the Hampshire town’s United Reformed Church.

The church is set close after suffering from “dwindling congregation numbers”, the Advertiser has reported.

Church elder Marian Brewer says the members are now sorting through various archives came across the historic paper.

The unearthing of the Advertiser in 2002

The capsule, that also contained notes on scripture lessons, a copy of The Sunday School Chronicle and a copy of the Andover Congregational Church Messenger, had previously been opened and examined in 2002.

Then-Advertiser editor Joe Scicluna was among those invited to the unearthing at the time.

The church now hopes to donate the copy of the Advertiser to Andover Museum “to be preserved for future generations to view”.